Alcantara, partner move into Italian Open semis

The unseeded pair of Francis Casey Alcantara and Ireland’s James Morrissey defeated Italy’s Marco Cecchinato and Giammarco Micolani, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the semifinals of the 51st Trofeo Bonfiglio (Italian Open) in Milan, Italy. Alcantara sort of avenged the stinging defeat suffered by compatriot Jeson Patrombon to the Italian pair. Cecchinato and Micolani ousted Patrombon and teammate Richard Gabb of Great Britain in the Last 32 of the International Tennis Federation (ITF)-organized Grade A event. Alcantara and Morrissey arranged a semis showdown with the fourth seeded German pair of Peter Heller and Kevin Kravietz, who scored a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tom Allen of Great Britain and Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely. Heller and Kravietz are the highest-ranked pair left in the tournament. The winner of the semis match will face the victor of the game between the fifth seeded pair of Duilio Beretta of Peru and Roberto Quiroz of Ecuador against Richard Muzaev of Russia and Dennis Nivikov of USA. Beretta and Quiroz downed Daniel Taro of Japan and Facundo Mena of Argentina, 6-1, 6-1, while the unseeded pair of Muzaev and Nivikov stunned seventh seeds Victor Baluda and Mikhail Biryukov of Russia, 6-2, 6-1. Meanwhile, Patrombon heads for Belguim to compete in the Astrid Bowl International Juniors Championships, which is another Grade I event, and close out his clay court campaign at the Junior French Open. Despite losing in his second match in the singles and doubles events, Patrombon, according to coach Manny Tecson, would still earn points that could give him a possible spot in the Top 30. Tecson said that Patrombon earned 40 ITF points in this tournament, 30 points in the singles and another 10 in the doubles. This does not include the points he earned when he reached the quarterfinals in Santa Croce last week. "We are on the right track in improving his ranking and hopefully by the end of this circuit, he will be ranked in the Top 30 or who knows what can happen in the coming tournaments, maybe the Top 20 in the world," said Tecson. "Jeson is getting use to this level and I believe he will get better and better as the circuit progresses," added the veteran mentor who also played and coached the RP Davis Cup. – JVP, GMANews.TV